The field of this invention relates to cartons and more particularly to a packaging/shipping carton for a plurality of can or bottle type of beverage container which then permits the carton to be utilized as an ice bucket by applying ice to the beverage containers for keeping such cold which frequently is a more common temperature for consumption of the beverage.
The selling to consumers of soft drinks and beer in bottle and can containers (commonly 12 ounces) is an exceedingly common practice. It is also exceedingly common to sell a collected number of such containers as a "six pack" or a "twelve pack."
It is generally intended to have the beverage consumed at a temperature substantially less than ambient temperature. Normally, the consumer would purchase the beverage at a store and then would transfer the beverage to a typical ice chest which is in widespread use. Thereafter, the consumer would then obtain a quantity of ice and place the ice on top of the beverage containers which functions to cool the contents of the beverage containers prior to being consumed.
A typical six pack or twelve pack container is constructed of paperboard and is intended to be discarded once the beverage containers have been removed from the paperboard carton. In the past, there has been attempts at incorporating an ice bucket in conjunction with the packaging/shipping carton for the beverage containers. However, these attempts at combining of the packaging/shipping carton and ice bucket proved ineffective and are not being used due to being complex, costly, difficult to manufacture, difficult for the consumer to operate, leaks water as the ice melts, etc. None of these prior art containers have experienced any widespread usage.